Tampa Bay Rays Exploring Adding Montreal As A Second Home

After the 2004 season, baseball packed its things up and left Montreal as the Expos flew south to the nation’s capital, rebranding themselves the Washington Nationals. 15 years later, a potential Montreal baseball revitalization seems possible amid the ongoing discussions between the Tampa Bay Rays and MLB. However, this exciting news brings forth a unique and pioneer aspect alongside it, as this proposal to bring more baseball up north reportedly plans to split up games between both Montreal and Tampa Bay.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred recently granted the Rays the opportunity to look into becoming the first ever team with two different home cities. Those cities, Montreal and Tampa Bay, will each host the Rays, splitting the home game total in half between the two vendors according to the deal. The plan calls for the Rays to play their season’s first half games in Tampa Bay, while shipping things across the border to play their remaining home games in Montreal.

Although the chatter regarding the Rays and their future plans continues to generate exciting buzz across the league, the likelihood that this plan’s events play out appears quite dim, and even if possible, certainly off into the distance. The St. Petersburg mayor neglected to even entertain the idea when speaking on the news as he stated, “The Rays cannot explore playing any Major League Baseball games in Montreal or anywhere else for that matter prior to 2028, without reaching a formal memorandum of understanding with the City of St. Petersburg. Ultimately, such a decision is up to me. And I have no intention of bringing this latest idea to our city council to consider. In fact, I believe this is getting a bit silly.”

The poor home attendance and failure to build a new stadium likely stands as the factors responsible for provoking this intention to split games between Tampa Bay and Montreal. Tropicana Field continues to annoy both fans and players as its constant issues include frequent power outages, unpleasant location, food violations, and more. These ongoing and unsolved issues contribute to crown the Trop as baseball’s undisputed worst ballpark. The Rays currently post the league’s second worst attendance rate, drawing in only 14,546 fans despite the team’s ongoing success and playoff potential.

When asked about the arrangement players such as Brandon Lowe displayed openness to the idea yet remained grounded as he stated, “It’s an interesting kind of idea. It’s in the future. It’s so far ahead of us that it’s going to be big news right now, but I feel like a lot of us are just kind of, ‘it happened, we saw it,’ but that’s really all it is.” Those from Montreal hoping the Rays move forward with this plan have already laid down some ground work, as plans to build a new stadium in a Pointe-Saint-Charles neighborhood are already in motion.

With the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox set to play the league’s first ever games across the pond in Europe next weekend, the MLB continues to illustrate its intentions to spread baseball across the globe. Whether or not the Rays break through the glass as the first ever a dual–city team, just the commotion surrounding the affair continues to illustrate the game’s growing mobility and overall evolution.

Article by Collin Helwig